"Best" race for a necro

[Treefall]

Originally Posted by curtischoy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks Tewaz, anyone know about vendors in FP sewers?

They wouldn't deal with me, but I hadn't done any faction work.

That said the dark elf right past the hidden entrance by the gate into WFP on the (north?) side will buy/sell your wares. Also the gypsies in Oasis.

[Uteunayr]

Originally Posted by curtischoy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hallo! I've gotten tired of soloing as a mage because pets seem to not be able to hold aggro. (He's only lvl 21) Thinking of making a necro. Just wanted some opinions about which race to pick. I love Iksars, but I'm concerned about the diffuclty level in being one. Plus, on live I did a ton of leveling in Kunark and I would rather level in Antonica, because I basically never went there.

I am not really planning on getting to 49 for Lich, so that isn't really an issue.

Thanks!

EDIT: Also, I refuse to play a human in a fantasy RPG : )

Even if you never plan to get to 49, I still suggest Iksar. The regeneration is a huge increase to efficiency when you are dealing with camp mechanics as a solo leveler often does. It will also help you be less gear reliant (even though we are already fairly non-gear reliant as it is). And in the bright side, if you do get to 49+, than you're already the best race to do what it is you want to do. One of the main negative effects of the Iksar Necro is that you can't use some of the more expensive, strong items (Tome of Miragul, Golden Efreeti Boots), but that makes your experience even cheaper, and more newbie friendly.

Originally Posted by Estu [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's true that Iksar necros are great for their regen, but the downside is the EXP penalty.

The increased regeneration, meaning less mana inefficient lifetaps, allow an Iksar Necro to kill more things at a camp than a Non-Iksar if both are played to the same level of skill. This can curb off that XP penalty significantly by increasing the number of things killed. This does not matter if the camp is tapped out easily, such as Bards in which there is only 1 bard (and possibly 1 add). In these situations, your mana will never be strained, and so you can always play very efficiently, no matter the race, and Iksar is only a gimp at this point. My guide does suggest these spots, so that is something to be wary of. However, if the camp is not capped out on enemies, such as in HHK doing Nobles (you can do the 2 nobles + 1 Isabella, and add in +2 Bards, and +1 upstairs noble, and +1 front gate guard dude on the ramparts), when you have 7 possible, than the efficiency of an Iksar's mana base allows them to make up for the EXP penalty by killing more things in the same period of time.

Originally Posted by Treefall [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

They wouldn't deal with me, but I hadn't done any faction work.

That said the dark elf right past the hidden entrance by the gate into WFP on the (north?) side will buy/sell your wares. Also the gypsies in Oasis.

Shady in the Tunnel will also deal with you.

This is the focus of the next update to my Necromancer Soloing and Strategy Guide. I am going to add a section for merchants that are Iksar Friendly, and their locations, so Iksar Necromancers have less of a difficult time getting around.

[Autotune]

I really wish people would stop using the exp penalty as a downside to iksars. Slow exp doesn't hinder your ability to kill things and as long as you kill, you will level.

Iksars are the best, especially in Velious with increased stats on items.

However, as I've said before, any race of necromancer will suffice if you aren't trying to be extremely efficient and maximize your stats/play style.

Choose iksar if you plan to min/max everything for raiding.

Choose any race based on what you like looking at or want to be seen as for any other reason (including iksar).

[fishingme]

Can't say I noticed the xp penalty too much on my iksar necro. Wouldn't worry about it leveling up, it goes quick. If you just want to mess around though, you may as well stick with your mage, they're a fun class. You could even just roll an enchanter and you really could have a great time.

[Uteunayr]

Yeah, the xp penalty basically is nullified by:

1) You're a necro, you're soloing, you're getting XP faster than most classes out there.

2) You can kill more shit as an Iksar, so you're getting more instances of XP.

I leveled Sesserdrix to 55 faster than I ever did Uteunayr, but that also may be because I know locations. What I can say is that leveling at Nobles for Uteunayr (DE: 4-5 enemies, 2 Nobles + 1 Isa + 2 Bards) and for Sesserdrix (Iksar: 6-7 enemies, 3 Nobles + 1 Isa + 2 Bards + 1 Front Gate Guy), Sesserdrix's mana sustain made the leveling go about the same pace. So, at least for that camp, regen was able to mitigate the entire slow down of the XP penalty.

[Treefall]

I'm sure it's been broken down before, but I think it would be nice to add a rough number of kills to 60, without deaths, Iksar vs. non-Iksar.

I don't really notice the penalty that much either. Then again, we've been on a bonus for a while.

We end up having to kill 22% more mobs than other Necros, I believe, which sucks during hell levels - FOR SURE - but for normal levels meh.

[DrKvothe]

There's just no way you're going to level faster as an iksar. 20% is huge. If you want to explore more content with your limited playtime, roll noniksar.

If you want to feel generally more powerful while you play, go iksar.

If you like or dislike the iksar look, that's a good enough reason for or against, imo.

[Swish]

Most high level necros I know are either glad they rolled an iksar or regret not rolling an iksar... the regen difference is too good to ignore and unless you're playing a halfling rogue as your other character the comparative difference in leveling isn't that noticeable.

[Potus]

I've leveled both Iksar and Gnome. Iksar is the best.

It's almost an entirely different experience.

[Uteunayr]

Originally Posted by Swish [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Most high level necros I know are either glad they rolled an iksar or regret not rolling an iksar... the regen difference is too good to ignore and unless you're playing a halfling rogue as your other character the comparative difference in leveling isn't that noticeable.

Yeah... I am in the latter camp. You know, I didn't feel so bad about being a Non-Iksar at 49 when I got Lich. Sure, it hurt. But it was really quite manageable. Sure, I would have been stronger if I started as an Iksar, but I was fine with it.

And then I got to 60. Once I hit 60, and I got Demi-Lich, I started to feel the damage income of Demi-Lich. It was just nasty losing so much HP. So I decided I would play an Iksar, and see how it went.

So, I made an Iksar Necro, and leveled him to 55 before graduate school started up again and I have had no time to level. In that time, I found that I never noticed HP loss from Lich until 34 with Call of Bones, but even then, I was losing so little, I would be fine just running around in Call of Bones. Then, I hit 49, and I noticed that it hurt, but heck, I had leveled as a Non-Iksar, this was still smooth sailing. And then I hit 51, when the next tier of regen hit, and I was killing 6-7 mobs at the Noble camp in HHK. Next level, I get the next tier of regen (56), which reduces Lich damage to -6... That's like being a Non-Iksar with Call of Bones.

It was a huge difference. Leveling wasn't that much slower, because I was killing more things. So long as I had camps that had more stuff to kill, I was leveling fast. If I was stuck (as my own guide on the wiki suggests) doing something like Bards, I was screwed. XP was slow.

Also, just a general side note (not to Swish specifically, but someone above referenced to the xp penalty), although it is a racial -20%, because of the fact that Necros have a base -10%, and that the experience modifiers are multiplicative, being an Iksar Necro really nets -32% experience, so it is -22% more of a penalty from other Necros.